PARADISE ON EARTH | jj maybank (DISCONTINUED)

1.26

JJ ENDED UP SLEEPING in Laura's bed, falling asleep almost instantly. That left her on an air mattress on the floor. But she didn't mind much, she knew JJ didn't have that good of a night.

But morning came fairly quickly after the talk between Briar and Laura. They had to be back at the Routledge house to meet the rest of the group excluding John B who was out fishing with Ward Cameron.

Laura had a really bad feeling about that, though. She never really got to talk to Ward but the way he has shown himself around Laura isn't very good.

Also her trust issues are incredibly terrible, which is why she has never been with anybody. Only person she has ever been able to trust is her brother. But even sometimes it's hard to trust him.

In a particular situation, Laura has never told anybody about her feelings for JJ. Until just now. She let it slip to Briar early that morning when Laura woke up to John B leaving. But according to the blonde, it was painfully obvious on both ends.

But once again, back to the trust issues. Laura could never believe that JJ returned the same feelings she had for him.

Laura found it extremely funny that JJ had a bad hangover, laughing at him when he first woke up that morning. He could barely get out of bed. That day was spent mostly just trying to get JJ feeling better.

"Thanks for bringing me here last night." JJ said randomly, still laying on Laura's bed.

Laura chuckled, "You're never this nice to me. What's up?"

But Laura didn't get a response. She lifted her head and looked over at JJ who was just staring up at the ceiling with a conflicted look. She got up off the air mattress and sat down next to him.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed out, then sat up on the bed. Laura smiled at him. "Is this the one and only time I'll ever see you in a vulnerable state?" She pushed his shoulder slightly.

"LB, I'm gonna try my hardest to be serious here." All she did was nod, resting her hands in her lap.

JJ took a deep breath, moving so he could let his legs dangle off the side of the bed. Laura brought her knees up to her chest, heart beginning to race. She had a million scenarios in her head, wondering which one was going to happen.

"I- we've been best friends for a while, you know? I mean like, we've been closer than most in the group. And now I've realized-"

The sound of a door opening stopped the words that JJ was saying. Laura turned to see Briar standing in the doorway.

"Laura, last night did you see a pink cardigan in Sarah's room when we were in there?" Briar said, leaning just her head into the room, arm supporting her on the doorframe.

Laura tilted her head. "Uh, no. But I can help you look in a few minutes? Me and JJ were talking."

"Oh, sorry to bother you guys. But yea, I'll be in Sarah's room. Thanks." Briar said, closing the door.

Laura turned back around and looked at JJ. Looking back at his slightly panicked look she's never seen from him, she got worried.

"Right. But now I realized– at least for me– that friendship has turned into something more that I really want. But I don't know how you feel."

Laura looked at him with wide eyes. JJ was tapping his index finger on his knee, waiting for any kind of response for the girl. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she didn't know what to say.

But finally the words came to her. "Thank god you said something before I had to."

"What?"

Laura stood up, but tripped over the blanket on the air mattress, falling into JJ. She did get up to hug him, but not it had just played out.

"You really are falling for me, huh?" JJ said with a chuckle.

Laura pushed herself off of him, shoving him back down, laughing. "That's the JJ I know. I couldn't stand the whole serious thing."

JJ grabbed the girl's waist, pulling her into a hug. But it didn't last long, as Laura pushed him away, panicked. "What about John B? The rule 'No Pogue on Pogue macking' still stands."

"Well, technically there isn't any 'Pogue on Pogue macking' happening... yet. And plus, he's your twin brother. You think he'd care?" JJ asked, hands still resting on her waist.

"I know he'd still care!"

"I don't think he will."

"Well I do!"

JJ moved his right hand from her waist and put it over her mouth. Her body relaxed as she pouted towards him, knowing he was most likely right. She knew she needed to start trusting him more, even though he was the one Laura always trusted.

"Just relax. We have stuff to do. We need to focus on that."

The next morning, they were now at the Routledge house. JJ and Laura sat on the edge of the hot tub that wasn't hot, and was filled with cold water. The two sat weirdly closer than usual, but Pope and Kiara chose to ignore it for now.

Kiara was sitting inside the large contraption they made, as Pope was controlling it. Laura reached on top of the blonde's head, taking the hat off and placing it on her own backwards.

"Ok, see, the hat doesn't even match what you're wearing today." JJ responded, reaching for the hat back.

"Since when did you care about what matches, and what doesn't?" Laura laughed, keeping a tight hold on the hat.

JJ shrugged, finally giving up. "John B pulling a Houdini." JJ yelled out to the other three.

"Yeah, where is he?" Pope asked. "I got my scholarship interview in the morning. We gotta get this done!"

JJ and Laura looked over and saw the boy walking over. "Speaking of the devil." He chuckled. "Dude, I set up the winch to pull up the gold and everything."

"No, he did not. I did that." Pope said.

But John B ignored all of them, continuing to walk past all of them and into the house. JJ and Laura looked at each other confused, before swinging their legs over the side of the hot tub and getting out.

"Uh... what's that all about?" Pope asked, looking over to the two.

Laura sighed, "I was gonna ask y'all the same question."

The four ran inside to see John B looking through everything, obviously trying to find something, but Laura had no idea what. He was opening cabinets and drawers frantically, throwing things around.

"You all right, man? What– what's up?" Pope asked, confused.

Kiara spoke up. "What are you looking for?"

John B walked over to the pull out couch, looking under the cushions, before pulling the gun out from under it.

"Dude, what the hell do you need the gun for?" Laura asked, reaching for her brother's shoulder.

The boy pushed his twin sister back into JJ, making the two fall onto the couch. John B has never intentionally put a hand on her in a way to hurt her, so Laura was incredibly confused at the moment.

"John B, chill!" Kiara yelled. "What are you doing?"

"What are you JJ, now?" Pope said, getting in John B's way. This resulted in him getting pushed into the small table, knocking things off of it.

"Oh, hell no." Laura said, running after her twin out the door.

"John B, what the hell are you doing?!" Kiara yelled following after the second girl.

"Ward knows about the gold!" John B yelled, facing the group behind him. "He killed my dad."

Laura's face dropped, not knowing how to react. John B drove off, leaving the girl there, as the other three began running after them. But they gave up soon, knowing they'd never be able to catch up to him.

JJ turned to face Laura, engulfing her in a hug that was desperately needed.

"He killed our dad?"